You Can't Arrange Love (But You Can Arrange Marriage)
by TheBookMouse
Summary: Percy and Nico have know each other since birth, with their rich fathers always busy they were stuck together with a babysitter almost constantly. They soon became friends and eventually fell for each other. Before either confess their feelings, graduation came about and the boys stopped seeing each other. That is, until their stepmothers decide to interfere and fix things up.


**This is for Takara Phoenix's Valentines Day contest. I hope you enjoy, I certainly enjoyed writing it.**

Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo had known each other since birth. Their fathers were both millionaires that had a strong business agreement with each other, so the boys were constantly being shoved into play dates to get them off their fathers hands. Neither of them lived with their actual mother, Maria di Angelo had died when Nico was still young and Sally Jackson had left Percy's father, Poseidon, when she found out about him cheating on her with another woman, (needless to say, her last name quickly changed.) Both Poseidon Jackson and Hades di Angelo had new wives now, and neither Percy nor Nico could find love with them. Percy, as an only child, constantly wanted to be around people since he felt so lonely at home. His constant complaints led to the bazillion playdates that his father set up for him with Nico. Nico, however, had two sisters. One an older sister, Bianca di Angelo, and the other a younger half-sibling, Hazel Levesque, who had taken her mother's last name when she was eleven in protest against the father that had abandoned her mom and caused her to have to live in an insane asylum. Nico always enjoyed hanging out with the other boy just to simply hang out with a boy, not his girly-girl sisters.

The two boys were inseparable all the way until the end of highschool, when they parted ways to go out into the world. Goodbyes were said tearfully, and promises to meet often exchanged. Although they wanted to keep in touch, soon their meetings were limited to twice a year. In other words, Christmas and Thanksgiving, when they came home to visit their families. One would think that when you have a friend for eighteen years of your life, it would never fade, that you would never run out of things to talk about. They would be wrong, the two times a year the boys saw each other at all was strained, almost painful even. So when their stepmothers plotted to get them to be the way they used to be together, things took a twist for the slightly insane. It all started about two months before Valentines day, when both boys were home for the holidays, during a joint family dinner no different than any other.

"Pass the potatoes, please," Percy spoke gently, directing his voice at the Italian sitting next to him.

Nico grabbed the bowl and slipped it into the other boy's hands. "Here you go," he grunted out.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Then it went back to awkward silence.

Persephone and Amphitrite, who happened to be sitting next to each other also, noticed the tension-filled exchange and looked at each other with a meaningful look.

Persephone cleared her throat and tapped her fork against her glass lightly, calling attention to herself. "Boys, we have something to tell you."

Amphitrite jumped in, willing to help her friend in explaining the situation. "Your fathers and we have decided upon something that will help bring the business firms together more than ever. And, in the process, will help to rejoin our family."

Poseidon and Hades stared at the table, knowing what was about to happen and hoping to not be dragged into any of it.

"We have arranged a marriage for both of you boys to be taking place on Valentines day," Persephone admitted, her voice clear and neutral, stating that she meant business and there was no changing her mind.

"What?!" both boys exclaimed, for once in the whole night looking lively.

"To who?" demanded Nico, not wanting to be married to just anyone. And especially not wishing to be undermined in such a way that he couldn't even choose his own partner. Percy didn't say anything else, just looked at them shocked and expectant of an answer.

"Each other, of course. Didn't I already say that?" Mrs. Jackson asked rhetorically.

"NO!" Nico boomed, and then ran upstairs to his bedroom, since they were at the di Angelo mansion. Percy, meanwhile, had a single tear streaking down his face as he got up and walked away, seemingly in a daze. He couldn't get married to Nico, Nico could never love him back like the son of Poseidon loved him. Heck, Percy was pretty sure that the Italian was straight! And what was with the arranged marriage? He thought those didn't even happen anymore. Nico had seemed like he didn't want Percy in the way he acted… He would never want Percy…

Meanwhile, upstairs Nico was screaming into a pillow like a sexually frustrated high school boy. This couldn't be happening to him! Percy was everything good and pure, how could their stepmothers ruin that by putting him into a situation with Nico? The easiest solution was to convince them otherwise, fight for his right to find a love himself… but Nico couldn't. He loved Percy too much to let him get away. To let him run into someone elses arms. Percy was _Nico's_. Always had been, and now always would be.

Neither boy said a word to each other before leaving their hometown and going back to their ordinary lives. But neither could shake the recognition that they were technically engaged to the boy they both loved. It consumed their every thought, never disappeared no matter what the boys did to forget their worries. Over the two months, Percy and Nico tried everything. Alcohol, dating others, immersing themselves in work, but their subconscious always wandered back to thoughts of the other.

It was only on the plane ride back home a week before the wedding that either boy faced the music. They knew that soon, they would be happier and more depressed than they ever had been before in their lives.

The week before the wedding, everything passed in a blur, like a football game before the winning goal. People were invited, decorations were made, suits were measured, but still neither boy talked to the other.

In fact, the first time they talked to each other before the wedding was when Nico had whispered "good luck" to Percy directly before the ceremony. It was almost depressing in the way that neither understood what was going on in the others head.

While the rest of the week had flew by, the ceremony itself seemed to creep on forever. Vows were said, and then the kiss. It was feather light, and so noncommittal that both boys wanted to cry inside. The reception was spent with fake smiles frozen on stiff faces and so many congratulations that they lost count.

Finally, it was over. Now was the beginning of another forever. They drove home, to a smaller house that had been bought a long while ago as a vacation home. Once in the door, they, being exhausted, retired to the bedroom and sat comfortably on the bed in silence.

"I'm sorry," Nico whispered, breaking the silence like a hairline fracture in a piece of glass.

"For what? You did nothing wrong, Neeks," Percy responded, sad that the nickname slipping past his lips felt almost unnatural.

"For losing contact with you, for selfishly not having them cancel the wedding, for hurting you, for everything… everything except loving you. I have no regrets that I have been in love with you now for a long time. My only regret is that now you will be living with me for longer than you can possibly stand." Nico said, his hands reaching out to clasp one of Percy's delicate hands.

"N-Nico…" was gasped by the older boy. "You… love me? Love is too strong a word to use lightly, it can cause more hurt than you could possibly know."

"Of course, how could I not?" was whispered, almost painfully.

"Then why the fuck did you leave me? Why did you stop talking to me?" Percy asked, slowly becoming pissed off.

"I wanted you to find yourself, and didn't want to pressure you." he admitted.

"You've never pressured me." Was spoken softly by Percy, as he leaned in and grasped Nico's face before pulling it to his in a rough kiss.

"Don't play me, now, I beg of you." Nico replied, shocked at the event that had just occurred.

"I would never hurt you on purpose, Nico. Never." Percy said softly, wiggling himself into Nico's warm embrace.

**Happy Valentines day! Sorry if this was a bit dark, I had a pretty depressing day.**


End file.
